Thursday, January 11 - Part 1

Analysis Plus showed the latest version of its new Copper Oval In interconnect, which sells for $269 per one-meter pair in either single-ended or balanced configurations. The Oval In uses three 18-gauge micro-design conductors and has a Teflon dieletric.

GutWire's new top interconnect is the all-copper SI-6 ($2099/meter pair). The company has matching new power cords as well. [www.gutwire.com]

Although France's Focal is not the only speaker maker using beryllium for its drivers these days, it is probably still the best known for this. The company just released the Electra Be 1037, the largest speaker in the Electra line. The 1037 weighs 115 pounds, is said to have a sensitivity of 93dB, and is priced at $10,995 a pair.

PSB's Stratus series is probably the company's best known, and for this latest Stratus series, designer Paul Barton pulled out all stops. With the floorstanding model, which is yet unnamed, he has created his "flattest and lowest distortion speaker yet." It will be priced at about $5000/pair. This speaker has some novel engineering that Barton says addresses the well-known issue of "floor bounce." There will be a bookshelf model and center-channel model as well, although they won't be available until about May.

The newest speaker from YG Acoustics is... [www.ygacoustics.com]

Norway's Hegel showed its equipment for the first time in North America. On top is the CDP4A CD player, priced at $4000; underneath it is the H1 stereo integrated amplifier, which delivers 120Wpc and is priced at $2600.

Simaudio new Moon 5.3 preamp ($3500) replaces the well-known P-5, while the new W-5.3 amp ($4800)... [www.simaudio.com]